The societal shift from selfishness to compassion and empathy has made a big impact this year. With more and more companies working to include empathy and emotional intelligence in their business strategy, employees have taken notice to the positive effects of compassionate communication. However, the critical element of self-compassion isn’t often noticed.

With the hustle of the holidays and end-of-year crunch time, keeping up performance-motivation in our teams can be a challenge. When employees want to be off merry-making but you still have spreadsheets to finish, pressure and deadlines can quickly take a toll on the attitude of your office.

“Dear Dr. Sharkey, I continue hearing experts discuss the importance of AI in the workplace. To some degree, I agree with their remarks. AI can improve productivity through automation capabilities. However, I’m just not seeing how it will create a more human workplace. Do you think we can actually create deeper, more meaningful connections with AI?”

Resilience is an important quality in employees, no matter the role or industry. Their capacity to recover quickly from difficulties within the workplace and in their personal lives determines how successfully they rise above failures and the fear of failure.

EmployeeChannel is committed to bringing you information on bettering your organization through internal communications and employee engagement. We’ve put together the latest trends to help you stay up-to-date and ready to tackle your organization’s challenges.

Trust in leadership is critical in nurturing key business-driving results, including employee engagement and satisfaction. Fortunately, many leaders are getting it right. In fact, the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer found 75% of employees trust their employers, outranking businesses, NGOs, government, and media.

According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 75% of workers believe there is more on-the-job stress now than a generation ago, with 40% of that group placing themselves at the high end of the stress spectrum. In tumultuous times, leaders must know how to encourage employee resilience to combat the resistance that builds and hinders potential.

Nobody wants to work in a toxic work environment. As a leader, you hold the culture and attitude of your workplace as one of your most important areas of focus.

But managing conflict, identifying issues, and keeping your cool can be a full-time job -- and exhausting at that. We reached out to industry experts to find out their most effective communication tips for maintaining a positive work environment to give you a leg-up on keeping toxicity out of your office. Here is what they had to say:

By this time in the year, your focus is likely set on how you’ll revamp and improve your internal communications strategy for 2020. You know the weight it has on your company’s success, and you need to make sure it’s primed for optimal employee engagement, direct and transparent, and unique to your organization's needs. But are you really planning for the long haul?